Apparel-corset.



Patented July [0, I900.

A. H. MUBFURD.

APPAREL CORSET.

. (Application filed Mar. 23, 18159. (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

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No. 653,455. Patented July "1,1900.

A., H. MORFOBD. APPAREL CORSET.

(Application filed Mar. 23, 1899.)

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheei 2.

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FNITED STATESY PATENT JFFIGE APPAREL-CO RS ET.

SPECIFICATION refinin part of Letters Patent No. 653,455, dated July 10, 1900.

Application filed March 23, 1899. Serial No. 710,166. (No model.)

To 6t whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANITA I-I. MoRFoRn, of Cambridge, county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improve ment in Corsets, of which the following description,in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object the prod uction of a novel corset.

Each half of my improved corset presents at its outer side three pieces-viz., a body piece, upper side piece, and a hip-piece. The body=piece reaches to the top and bottom of the corset, both front and back, and is cut out under the arms and over the hips to receive, respectively, the upper side piece and the hippiece, they when set into the body-piece, by being laid either under or over said bodypiece, giving the corset its shape. The facing at the back of the corset, which comes. either on the inner or outer side of the body:

piece, according to the way the hip piece is put on, it andithe back edge of the body-piececontaining the usual eyelets for lacing, is so shaped as to give strength to the corset, and also, preferably, said facing has connected with it at or near its lower end and forming an integral part thereof the hip-piece, it extending to and being connected with the bodypiece at the front of the corset substantially down to its lower end, the said hip-piece filling in the space out out of the body-piece for the hips. I have shown this facing as extended from the bottom to the top of the corset at its back or eyeleted edge, and the con-.

nected integral hip-piece when the facing is applied to the interior of the corset is turned away from that portion of the facing standing at the back of the corset and is turned horizontally down into such position that the end of the hip-piece may be connected with the lowerfront of the body-piece. By this construction the corset is made to hold the abdomen in, not by tightness around the hips, but by drawing around the waist-line from the back to the front of the corset, and the abdomen is'further reduced by the construction of the body-piece, which by reason of its being cut in one piece, it having neither darts nor seams, may be left fiat, thus allowing room over the stomach and above the abdomen instead of pressing in and downward, and consequently the abdomen may be re duced, while the corset fits loosely over the hips.

It will be obvious that my corset may be made single or double or of any material.

Figure 1 shows part of a figure with a corset embodying my invention applied thereto".

Fig. 1 shows a portion of the front of the co'rset near its upper end. Fig. 2 shows from the interior one half of the cloth entering into the formation of one half of a corset; Fig. 2, a cross-sectional view of the parts shown in Fig. 1 on the line a; m. Fig. 3 shows the up per side piece detached. Fig. 4 shows the body-piece. Fig. 5 shows the facing in the position that it is cut from the cloth. Fig. 6 shows another form of facing and connected hip-piece to be applied outside the back piece.

The body-piece A, forming the chief piece of each half of the three-piece corset, is cut flat from material to present a portion a for the back of the corset and a portion a for the front of the corset, the upper edge being concaved, as at 03, and the lower edge concaved, as at a said concaved lines leaving spaces at the top and bottom of each half of the body-piece.

Fig. 4 shows the extreme edge a, of the front of the body-piece inturned and notched, as at a, in order that the edge line of the front of the corset may be made concaved, as at a to present what I designate as a profile curve. When this concaved edge in the manufacture of the corset receives the usual steels,-the straightening of said edge by the steels gives a fullness at 30 in the part a of the body and the upper side piece near the uppermost eye-plate 6 of the steel, Fig. 1, when the edge 0. of the body-piece is stitched to the edge of the upper side piece'covering the bust. The extreme right-hand edge of the'body-piece (said edge being represented by dotted lines a Fig. 4) 'istu-rned over, so that said edge occupies the position indicated by full lines a preparatory to makingup the corset, and also the edges a and a are inturned or overlapped on the dotted lines a 0. if the cooperating pieces are to be attached by being placed under the body-piece.

If the corset is made with the top and hip pieces attached on the outside of the bodypiece, then the lower edge of the upper side piece and the inner edge of the hip-piece are turned in and the edges of the body-piece to which they are joined are left unturned. The upperside piece 12 is cut separately from the cloth to substantially the shape represented in Fig. 3, the upper edge of said piece starting from the corner I), which comes to the front of the corset, it being sloped over in a rather large circle to the point b ,where the upper edge is somewhat concaved and again somewhat convexed to the point b This invention is not, however, limited to the exact shape shown, as the concave space in the top of the body-piece may be cut deeper or shallower, thusincreasiug or diminishing the fullness in the top of the corset, and it will also be obvious that the shape of the space to receive the hip-piece may be somewhat changed without departing from my invention, and such change in the shape of the hip-space will call for a corresponding change in the hip-piece. Also the concave curve in the front of the corset may be deeper or shallower, according to the requirement of the wearer, and the top and the bottom of the corset may be cut olf to any length desired, as the principle of the corset is embodied in the portion embracing the waist and covering the abdomen. It could be so cut that the body-piece would present little more than a belt and still fill the requirements for which it is designed. However, the shape herein shown afiords a proper and desirable contour for the corset. The facing for the back, if to be applied to the inner side of the back edge of the body-piece, will be cut from the material in the shape indicated in Fig. 5. This facing is composed of a portion 0 of a length to extend from the top to the bottom of the corset at the back, it being the length of the portion of the back a of the body-piece, and extended from it is a wing 0', having substantially the shape represented in Fig. 5, said wing constituting the hip-piece, the edge e of the wing meeting, underlying, and being stitched to the concaved edge a of the body-piece and the point e of the wing terminating in practice at the lower front extremity of the corset. Fig. 2 shows. the facing and hip-piece in position at the inner side of the corset-front, the hip-piece being turned over and drawn into the position it will occupyin the finished corset, and it will be seen by inspection that bending the hippiece into such position causes fullness therein, and it will also be understood that the corset when in use and embracing the waist throws the line of strain coincident with the line of stitching uniting the hip and body pieces or from the back to the front of the corset, and such strain will tend to draw in the lower front end of the corset upon the abdomen, supporting the abdomen and yet leaving the hip-piece practically loose or without any tendency to crowd down.

In case it should be desired to apply the facing and hip-piece to the outer side of the body-piece, then I prefer to somewhat change the shape of the portion a of the said facing, it under such condition being shaped substantially as shown in Fig. 6. In Fig. 5 the part c is shown wider than in Fig. (3, or when the facing is applied inside the body-piece such wider portion may be-concealed by the application of the bone-casing; but when the facing is applied externally the wide edge is in the way of a neat finish. So, also, in the modification Fig. 6 the slight convexed eontour (marked 1)) enables the turned-in edge to properly overlie the sharper concaved part of the hip-space.

I have described the facing and hip-piece as made from a single piece of material. I gain beneficial results thereby, as I avoid the making of any seams and I get a bias strain on the hip-piece in use, and at the same time the putting of the hip-piece from the position Fig. 5 into the position Fig. 2 has a tendency to throw outwardly from the body the lower or longer edge e of the hip-piece, thus enabling it to present the proper fullness. My invention would not, however, be departed from if the hip-piece 0' should be made in a piece cut on the bias and separated from the piece 0, it being joined tothe piece 0 in the dotted line 00 Fig. 5; but such construction besides presenting an objectionable seam, adding to the cost of the corset, would also weaken the corset.

The part c of the facing when out from a piece of material presents its right-hand edge in the dotted line 0 but said edge is overturned on the body of the portion 0 into the position 0 before the facing is applied to the interior of the corset-front.

. If the corset is to be made with the upper side and hip pieces attached to the inner side of the body-piece, having the parts repre-.

sented in Figs. 3, 4, and 5, I lay the lower edge of the upper side piece under the infolded edge a of the space left in the top of the body-piece and lay the facing, as repre* sented in Fig. 2, with its infolded edge next the infolded edge of the back of the bodypiece, as represented in Fig. 2, turning the hip-piece down into the position Fig. 2, and then I stitch the parts together by lines of stitches, (represented by the dotted lines d.)

Each half of the corset when the facing and body-piece are stitched together will be provided at the back with the usual bones, and between the bones each half of the corset will have the usual series of eyelets e, as represented by dotted lines, Fig. 2, and if the corset is to be of what is known as skeleton form and not lined I may, after the parts of the corset have been stitched together, stitch to the interior of the corset suitable strips, so as to confine between said strips and the interior of the corset-bod y suitable bones, said bones being represented by the series of dotted lines e, and the extreme front of the corset will have applied to it a steel-covering strip f, (shown in section in Fig. 2 and partly in Fig. 2,) and between said strip and the front of the corset will be applied a front steel g of any usual or suitable construction.

This corset has no darts and no perpendicular seams. It can be made either double or single and of any usual material, and any desired number of bones and steels may be used. If the corset is made double, these bones and steels may be placed between the material. The front edge of the body-piece is left to present the desired profile curve, and to infold this edge it must be notched.

When the steels are applied to a corset havin g the described profile curve and the corset is worn by a person not very stout, the steels lie substantially straight from bottom to top of the corset, the steels in use being prefer: ably absolutely without curve, such plan enabling the wearer to stand properly erect,or, in other words, the natural taper of the body to the waist allows the steels to remain absolutely without curve unless the curve is increased beyond that taper,which can be done, if desired, by increasing or diminishing the curve in the front of the body-piece.

In order to turn back the curved front edge of the corset, it must be notched, as represented in the drawings, the notches being made of suitable depth in the inturned portion, and by curving the front edge of the body-piece more or less it is possible to provide any desirable profile for the front.

The back of the corset is perfectly straight,

the curve at the waist-line being allowed for by the looseness over the hips. This construction forms a corset which fits the waist snugly at-the side and back and snugly over the abdomen, but allows freedom over the stomach and hips. The seam joining the body and hip 'pieces follows the waist-line on the sides. This is at the highest point of the curve. The lines 2, 3, and 4 marked on Figs. 3 to 6 indicate the lines in which the upper edge piece, body-piece, and hip-piece are to be crossed by bones when the corset is made.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- A corset each half of which is composed of an integral body-piece extending continuously from front to back and having single concaved portions removed from its top and bottom edges to provide single continuous recesses under the arm and over the hip, an upper edge piece fitted to the continuous recess beneath the arm and secured to the bodypiece, a facing composed of a portion extend= ing from the top to the bottom of and secured to the back of the body-piece and having a wing or hip piece secured to the body-piece and filling the continuous recess over the hip.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ANITA H. MORFORDI Witnesses:

JOHN C. EDWARDS, MARGARET A. DUNN. 

